Vegetable

There’s few things more rewarding than growing vegetables in your own backyard. The fresh taste of a vine ripened tomato or snap pea harvested at its flavorful peak is second to none. Vegetable gardens are a great family activity, one that provides rewarding outdoor exercise. And knowing that your organically-grown veggies carry none of the risks of today’s commercial, factory-farm produce can be priceless.

To ensure you raise the best-tasting, most nutritious food for your family — in ways that make your garden as safe and healthy as it can be — takes planning, know-how and experience. Click the blog articles here for information on locating your new garden plot, improving soil health, selecting the best vegetable varieties for your growing conditions, and caring for your plants — naturally! — all the way to harvest.

Share ideas or ask specific questions over at our Vegetable Garden Forum. Planet Natural’s community of avid gardeners can help.

A heat-loving annual, watermelon can be grown in all parts of the country, but the warmer temperatures and longer season of southern areas especially favor this delicious plant. In cooler areas choose short-season varieties and do whatever it takes to protect them from frost.

Site Preparation

Choose a location where your plants will get full sun and good air circulation. A gentle, south-facing slope is ideal. Watermelons can grow in many kinds of soil, but prefer a light, sandy, fertile loam that is well-drained. Add generous amounts of manure, compost and leaves to your garden and work the soil well prior to planting. Watermelons like lots of water. Keep the soil moist at all times. (more…)

Nothing beats the taste of a fresh, vine ripened heirloom tomato grown in your own garden.

While technically a fruit, growing tomato plants is an organic gardeners delight! Originating in Central and South America, tomatoes are available in an ever increasing range of colors, sizes and shapes with the recent interest in heirloom cultivars fueling further interest (see History of Tomatoes).

Site Preparation

Tomatoes are very deep rooted and don’t need nearly as much water as most people believe. They will do much better in garden soil than in pots and require plenty of sun. Plant after the soil has warmed in the spring in rich, fast draining soil which has been amended with ample amounts of garden compost and organic calcium to prevent blossom end rot. (more…)

Everything tastes better when it’s homegrown and Swiss chard is no exception. Here’s how to grow it organically.

An excellent source of vitamins A, K and C, as well as several minerals, home gardeners growing Swiss chard are rewarded with its succulent, mild-flavored leaves that can either be eaten raw or cooked like spinach. Easy to grow and perfect for edible landscapes or a container. Frost and heat tolerant. (more…)

How to plant, raise this warm season plant from slips (root sprouts) the organic way.

Native to Central and South America sweet potato is an important food crop in tropical and subtropical countries. Here in the United States, home gardeners growing sweet potatoes require a long frost-free season to mature large, useful roots.

More than 40% of the national supply of sweet potatoes comes from North Carolina. (more…)

Tips and techniques for growing strawberries; a favorite in the organic garden.

Sunlight: FullMaturity: June bearing types, one year after planting before harvest; 60 days (second blossoming) for most day neutral and ever-bearing typesHeight: 8 – 24 inchesSpacing: 12 – 24 inches apart depending on method used (see “planting” below), 2 to 3 feet between rows

Rich in vitamin C, strawberries are a home garden favorite. The plants come in three types, “day neutrals” or alpine berries, often used as ornamentals, which produce small numbers of berries through much of the growing season; “ever bearing” which produce berries in the spring and fall, and “June bearing” which produce one large crop in and around its namesake month. (more…)

Home gardeners are growing squash for its abundant yields of scrumptious fruit and edible blossoms.

Squash, including zucchini, gourds and summer squash, are members of the cucumber (cucurbit) family and require warm soil temperatures to do well. Squash will not germinate in cold soil (70˚F or less) and the plant is easily damaged by frost.

A cool season annual, organic gardeners are growing spinach for its delicious and nutritious, dark green leaves.

Chock-full of vitamins A and B-2, and rich in iron and calcium, spinach is one of the first greens up in the spring with cool weather being the key to its success. Warm temperatures and longer days will quickly trigger spinach to go to seed (bolt). (more…)

A cool season perennial plant, rhubarb is easy to grow, hardy and resistant to drought.

Initially cultivated for medicinal purposes more than 2,000 years ago, home gardeners today are growing rhubarb for its tangy stems which are used in pies, tarts and sauces. Plants require cool weather to thrive and do not do well in warmer climates — growth slows when temperatures exceed 80˚F. Rhubarb is rich in vitamins A and C, iron and dietary fiber.

Note: The leaves of this plant are poisonous if ingested; use the stems only and compost the leaves. (more…)

The perfect cool-weather crop for impatient young gardeners– radishes can be grown, harvested and eaten in as little as three weeks! These potent root vegetables are chock-full of vitamins C and B6, minerals and dietary fiber and are members of the Brassicaceae family, which makes them cousins to cabbage and broccoli.

Growing organic pumpkins can be a fascinating experience providing you have the time and space – a single plant can cover over 500 square feet!

This annual warm-season vegetable is available in an array of attractive varieties, some of which don’t resemble pumpkins at all. They also dish up some powerful nutritional perks like vitamins A, E and C, along with minerals like phosphorous, calcium and potassium. A member of the Cucurbitaceae family, the pumpkin is closely related to squash, melons and gourds. (more…)